Post Punk Kitchen Forum

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/dinin ... dwest.html

*sigh* What a stupid and useless article. I went vegan - not just vegetarian - in high school living in a rural area outside of the town of 200ish, located about an hour from Fargo, ND, for Pete's sake. I had 45 kids in my graduating class, and we were "the big class." The lunch ladies at my high school were very sweet and figured it out. I hate articles that paint the Midwest as filled with nothing but backwater bumpkins. I mean, the Twin Cities is very accommodating to vegans and vegetarians, but I wish we had access to Fud in Kansas City!

Talk about a premise with a tiny kernel of truth greatly exaggerated to justify a column. I don't know whether to blame the author or the editor, but either way - lame, lame, lame. Stick to reviewing Manhattan restaurants, NYT.

how does that guy write for the NYT?!

Apparently he's the son of the guy who owns it?

NO WAY. Are you kidding me...??? And "it" = NYT or Fud?

Article about how hard it is to be a vegetarian = SLOW NEWS DAY, eh guys?

Seriously though, it sounds like this guy's particular problem is that he can't find many vegetarian restaurants to eat at. Not being able to find restaurants to eat at != vegetarianism is hard. It's a bummer... I love dining out and understand how sad it is to live somewhere where you can't do that often... but having to cook for yourself (gasp!) doesn't mean vegetarianism is IMPOSSIBLE omg.

I wrote in to him because I thought it was such a crepe article. I also linked him to Kansas City vegan stuff to assist him.
I also suggested that he buy some cookbooks (by Isa who is in the midwest and does just fine like many of us) so he can stop eating iceberg lettuce salads.
Oh and also, WHAT?! We have produce in the midwest. I think he just misses NY too much. Get over it.

Shocking he didn't find any non-meat food at a steakhouse, a fried chicken place, and a barbeque place. I know he says he's a veteran, but he must have missed a few key points some where.

the times. arthur sulzberger, jr., the NYT's publisher and chairman of its owner's board, is his father. (as were his father and his father's father before him...)

Oh good Lard. So this was his sixth grade-quality field report??

Haha. Actually, it makes sense now why the editors didn't clean this up - they must have figured they'd just feed him to the vegans. Give them enough rope... ; ) Also, it explains why the Sulzberger is so clearly out of his element in the Midwest. That's the REAL issue in his article.

I don't know about that. Having lived in both places, I'd say the generally accessible produce is definitely worse in NYC. It's sad, really.

The restaurant he mentions in Iowa City, IA is actually in Coralville, IA and guess what? That menu line is a joke. My husband eats there with his work cronies (mish mash of vegetarians and meaties) and they really do cater to vegetarians. If he did ANY research as he suggests he could have found the PPK forums, among others, which have tons of great advice from locals. I personally updated the Iowa City list recently. Oh, we also have two natural food co-ops and an amazing farmers market (three, actually).

Does he know the reason WHY Missouri farmland is going to waste? Because our government pays farmers to plant - or not plant - seed corn. Sadly, they cannot financially sustain their farms and families growing real food. He needs to watch "King Corn" for starters on his educational adventure.

I live in a town of 5000 people (not in Joliet itself, that's just the nearest decent sized "city") and you can buy frozen meals from Amy's and Kashi at the grocery store here. And it's not some big chain grocer like Dominick's or Kroger, it's a small town indie grocer. No kale though, mustards. But overall my husband and I eat vegan easily and deliciously.

ughh i read that too, I grew up in missouri in a very small town. there were no vegan or vegetarian options anywhere, so guess what? I LEARNED HOW TO COOK. duh.

this.

and also - i just looked up menus for the Arthur Bryant's BBQ and The Golden Ox. he could have chosen potato salad, pickles, cole slaw, and bread (half or whole loaf) at the Arthur's place. As for the Golden Ox - they have a Tomato, Onion & Bleu Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette, Creamy Cheese Potatoes, Onion Rings, Broiled Tomatoes, Sauteed Fresh Asparagus, or Garlic Mashed Potatoes. nothing to eat for a vegetarian?!? puuuuuuuuulease! those look like lots of options to me.

i think he'd starve to death were he vegan. ha!

To the author's credit, it can be tough to tell what is vegetarian just by the menu. I don't understand it, but people put lots of unnecessary meat products into lots of foods one would not expect. For example, the 'cheesy potatoes' could easily include chicken broth - in fact, the broth could be in the sauteed asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes, too. And of course trying to find cheese not made with animal rennet is very, very tough. But still, even with those obstacles, it's nowhere near the challenge described in the story.

It would have added some content to contentless article if he tried asking servers about vegetarian ingredients. He might have been surprised (and less of a baby) to find that many servers actually do have the ability to check on the ingredients in the dishes they serve. (I know he asked at that one place, but he asked about pretty obviously non-veg things.)

Honestly, it seems like he didn't even go to any of the places he talks about, but instead wrote that article in his NYC apartment with Yelp reviews as his only materials. I'm saying that facetiously--of course he went--but I just can't get over how utterly terrible that piece is. I've reread it three times now because it's such a train wreck.

Agreed 100%. Just awful.

No kidding. I have breezed through a lot of small towns in Illinois, all of the County Markets or Krogers have some kind of natural foods section. We stopped at a small grocery in a two of a few thousand once, and I noticed they had soymilk. Which isn't much, but for a town of that size, it is. When we lived on an army base, the commissary was really great about stocking non-dairy milks, Bob's Red Mill, some organic produce...I was also able to find a CSA in Nashville that did a pickup in our town. And these are vegan concerns, if I were still just a vegetarian I could eat almost everywhere. Except the steak house.

I sent a letter a while ago asking for help in finding a vegan restaurant in the Toledo Ohio area and got no response. Am I in the wrong place?
Can someone direct me to the right board?

So basically Omaha sucks?